Application | Software Excellence Alliance

The 5 Keys to Crushing Technical Debt and Reclaiming the Joy in Engineering

Tech Talk, Past Presentation

The March 2023 tech talk was presented by Alan Willett and Julia Mullaney

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Abstract

Are you feeling weighed down by technical debt? Are you tired of constantly putting out fires and struggling to keep your systems running smoothly? It’s time to reclaim the joy in engineering! In this talk, we will explore the five key strategies for crushing technical debt and bringing back the enjoyment to your work. We’ll also delve into the seven types of technical debt, including gordian knots, trap doors, barnacle ware, and more, and show you how to identify and tackle each one. Join us and learn how to eliminate technical debt and rediscover the satisfaction of building high-quality systems.

About the Presenters

Alan Willett is a globe-trotting Principal helping organizations to improve the speed and power of their engines of development. Alan is the award-winning author of Lead with Speed and Leading the Unleadable.

Alan Willett was the youngest of six kids on a dairy farm in Hunt, NY, which was (and still is) about a 30-minute drive to any stoplight. In Alan’s opinion, a stop sign would be okay in that town. The stoplight is a bit of high-tech overkill. The dairy farm has been in the family for almost 200 years. In Alan’s teenage years, the farm won Dairy Farm of the Year multiple times, while other farms failed. Alan learned how to be lucky by using data, technology, hard work, and logical decision-making.

After the farm, Alan went to Rochester Institute of Technology. There, he ran track and cross-country. He actually did run across the country with his team. The team was in the Guinness Book of World Records for running a relay from ocean to ocean in record time. While at college, as a side hobby to his athletics, he received a degree in computer science, which later became a Master’s degree.

When Alan started working in the high-tech world of high-pressure product development, he found that most of the projects used data much less than they did on the farm. On his projects, he put into place the use of data and logical decision-making. His travels eventually took him to work at the world-renowned Software Engineering Institute, the think tank of the world on high-tech development work. There, he was able to work with many of the geniuses that have pushed the state of the art. He worked with and was good friends with the late Watts Humphrey.

Julia Mullaney has been involved with software excellence since starting her career at IBM in 1988. At IBM, she was instrumental in process improvement efforts, having a major role in defining and implementing defect prevention, for which she won the IBM Quality Award.

At the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), Julia was a key contributor to the Personal Software Process℠ (PSP℠) and Team Software Process℠ (TSP℠) through the development of training, certification, licensing, and applied research at leading software organizations. She was fortunate to take the first PSP class from her mentor, Watts Humphrey. Julia is currently the chair for the IEEE CS/SEI Watts Humphrey Quality Award and also sits on the IEEE CS Awards Committee.

Julia’s passion is software excellence, and she has been channeling that passion into growing the Software Excellence Alliance (SEA) as the SEA Executive Committee Leader and as a member of SEA Website & Social Media working group. She previously chaired the Working Group Training working group.

Application of Statistical and Other Quantitative Techniques in Software

Tech Talk, Past Presentation

The February 2023 tech talk was presented by Stephen Shook

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Abstract

The CMMI has long emphasized use of “statistical and other quantitative techniques” as a best practice for software work. Many organizations struggle with how to apply those techniques. (The ISHPI AIS Division did, too.) What techniques should we use? What business problems will these help us to solve? And, most importantly, what really adds value? This presentation provides a survey of the techniques that we use, and how we use them. Examples include linear regression, prediction intervals, control charts, histograms, and tests for statistical significance. ISHPI will discuss how they apply “quantitative and statistical techniques” in their software work, along with the underlying data and examples from individuals, project teams, and the overall organization.

About the Presenter

Stephen Shook, ISHPI’s Vice President of Software Engineering and Quality, brings more than 25 years of experience in senior management, business development, development management, project management, software engineering, and implementation of Capability Maturity Model® Integration (CMMI®). He is one of the principal architects of ISHPI’s award-winning Agile High Velocity Development℠ software development methodology, which is appraised at CMMI Development Maturity Level 5. As an experienced instructor, coach, consultant, and subject matter expert, he leads and mentors software teams to achieve exceptional cost, schedule, and quality performance in order to achieve customer business goals. Stephen has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Illinois.

Implementing a Strategy for Excellence

Tech Talk, Past Presentation

The January 2023 tech talk was presented by Seemin Suleri

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Abstract

In our pursuit of excellence, we built a strategy that matched the ambition of a competitive e-commerce business. The problem was, where do we start the work: A struggling software department with high attrition and low engagement, a software system that was falling apart, a monolith that was hard to break away from. This talk covers how the real work was done on the ground to achieve great results. It also gives practical advice on where to find tools that enable you to measure the effectiveness of the strategy. For anyone who is tasked with bringing a vision to reality, this talk is packed with ideas that generated high performance, high engagement, and better quality products 40 times faster.

About the Presenter

Seemin Suleri

Seemin is an agent for change in a competitive digital world. Specializing in building and leading high-performance self-organizing teams, she has enabled businesses to transform their cultural and technological landscape. She has a real passion for Agile and continuous improvement. Currently working as Head of Engineering for 288 Group Ltd, she is leading the company’s systems transformation effort to meet the demands of the ever-evolving and competitive market.

She is a mum of two energetic preschoolers, and is passionate about flexibility and inclusion in teams to allow people from all backgrounds to succeed. She has led a number of initiatives to increase the representation of women in software, and is always interested in the human element in organizational success. She is an enthusiastic individual with a background in both software engineering and project management, coupled with the ability to operate within an array of engineering disciplines to unblock flow and get the job done.

Making SAFe Better from the Bottom Up: Mixing Methods and Tools

Past Presentation

The August 2021 Tech Talk was presented by Kimberly Wade

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Abstract:

The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is the leading method for scaling lean and agile practices to large solution delivery. Using SAFe allows large organizations with multiple programs and projects to create alignment, synchronization, and transparency at all levels, from top leadership down to individual teams. SAFe also allows leaders to communicate what is most important today, and gives teams the confidence that they’re addressing their highest priorities first. However, using SAFe alone creates challenges, especially in monitoring large deliverables by teams that use Scrum as their sole means of planning and tracking. Among these challenges are: inability to adjust individual labor hours due to lack of insight about actual time spent on tasks; neglecting product quality during development until integration; and inability to roll up overall program status with respect to each individual project’s status. These and other challenges leave SAFe programs without the ability to accelerate team performance using quantitative data. Combining SAFE with multiple methods and tools can help the program to achieve much greater success.

About the Presenter

Kimberly Wade is part of the Lean Agile Center of Excellence (LACE) at NAVAIR. She is passionate about supporting teams as they use lean agile principles and practices to deliver value to their customer. She believes program success begins at the individual team level, and conducts regular training and coaching to ensure team members have the resources they need to be successful. Kimberly has a BS in Organizational and Project Management from Southern New Hampshire University, and has worked at NAVAIR for 6 years as a process and product improvement leader.

How to Manage $30M and 150 Projects in 90 Minutes

Past Presentation

The August 2020 Tech Talk was presented by Brad Hodgins

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Abstract:

This presentation describes a solution implemented by the Performance Resource Team (PRT) to help a customer manage $30M+ across 150+ projects and required project leads to attend only one 90-minute training session on what they had to do to manage their projects. The solution had to address the needs of the customer to have a simple status report (e.g., one picture) and have minimum impact on the project leads, since some of the projects had very small budgets (e.g., $10K).

To minimize the impact on the project leads, the solution relied on using tools that the project leads already knew (e.g., Microsoft Excel) and simplified the actions required for tracking and reporting their project status to the point that it required less than an hour a month. Only a few project management concepts were used in the solution so that the project lead training could be delivered in one 90-minute session. The solution was stood up halfway through a fiscal year and was used for the entire following fiscal year. Both years resulted in over 90% participation by the projects, and the customer was pleased with the simplicity of the single chart output showing all the projects’ status.

About the Presenter

Brad Hodgins is a computer scientist and has been supporting Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) for 36 years. He has over 20 years’ experience developing simulation and avionics software. He has spent the last 16 years as a project planning and tracking coach and instructor for the Performance Resource Team (PRT), actively coaching project teams in the development of high-quality products for on-time, on-budget delivery to the fleet.

Brad has expertise and a national reputation in process improvement. During his time with the PRT, Brad gave over two dozen presentations at symposiums and conferences, and authored/co-authored half a dozen published articles and papers, all sharing the great things NAVAIR has been doing. Brad was given a Navy patent in 2008 for the Learning Applying Mastering Perfecting (LAMP) model for team process implementation evaluation and improvement. He was awarded the Michelson Laboratory Award in 2010, and he became a NAVAIR Associate Fellow in 2013. Brad earned a Doctorate in Computer Science from Colorado Technical University in 2015. He retired from government service in 2019, but continues to support NAVAIR as an employee of Saalex Solutions Inc.

Brad is a Taurus and likes surfing (just kidding about the surfing).